aborting a foal

Question
my friend found her foal aborted yesterday at 8 mos. foal was formed perfectly for that far along. she lives in a real cold climate had pelenty of food and water and shelter. what are some reasons she could of aborted the foal? she can't afford a vet bill right now.

Answer
Bonnie,

Unfortunately, this is not a question with an easy, quick answer.  There are a lot of reasons a mare could abort a foal.  Was she vaccinated for equine herpes virus, which can cause foal abortion without any other symptoms in the mare.  Other reasons could be stress, a slip and fall, an internal infection of the reproductive tract - the list goes on and on.  Without having the mare checked and at least getting bloodwork done I really can't tell you why the mare lost her baby.  It was a late term loss so she really needs to get the mare checked out by a vet if she plans on breeding her again to make sure that she has no problems.  

I wish I could be more helpful but this is really not something I can help with much because of all the possible variables involved.

Lyn